I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to training panties for very young children learning to control urination, and more particularly to such panties having means for dissembling the panty member so that it can be removed from the child's body and disposed of without manipulation of the child's body therethrough.
II. Description of the Prior Art
A problem with uncontrolled urination and bowel movements is that a panty garment can become extremely soiled. In order to avoid frequent laundering and the inability to remove extremely set stains, disposable diapers have been made available. Such diapers comprise a garment flap, usually formed of layers of material, having a tab on each side at one end adapted to overlap and adhesively engage the other end of the flap when it has been wrapped over a child's body. Such diapers often include an absorbant inner layer and an outer layer of plastic or other nonporous material which prevents leakage to the outer garments. However, while such garments are likely to remain assembled when applied to the body of a fairly small infant, such garments are not well adapted for use by more active children with slightly greater maturity who are in the process of learning to control urination.
Moreover, although typical undergarments having a waist band and a pair of leg bands to form a substantially unitary garment which does not become undone during activities are already known, such garments can be difficult to remove. In particular, once a garment has become soiled, removal of the garment can substantially increase the spread of soilage, especially since the garment must be pulled over the child's legs.
A modified form of disposable training panties is disclosed in my previous U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,230 in which a disposable crotch member is removable from the main portion of the garment containing the waist band the leg band. However, while a removable crotch member substantially eases the ability to clean up the child and remove the soilage, it can be appreciated that the area of soilage is not limited only to the crotch area. As a result, the problem of removal of the entire garment and its soilage spreading problem can still be encountered with such a garment. Moreover, while the patent also suggests that the crotch can be torn open, such tearing does not provide complete removal of garment from the baby without further manipulating portions such as the waist band of the garment over the child's body.